Rochdale News | Sports News | Hammer boxers win two gold medals in Sweden
Publication date: October 7, 2022
Austin Heneghan and Aeron Maddocks
Hamer boxers Austin “Powers” Heneghan and Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks traveled to Sweden last weekend to represent North West England in the Gripen Box-Cup thanks to funds donated by the family of the late Stephen “Moggy” Murray.
14-year-old Austin “Powers” Heneghan stepped into the ring on Saturday, October 1 to take on Swedish boxer Angelo Adamos of the AIK Boxing Federation in the final of the Gripen Box-Cup. When the bell rang, both boxers came out and fenced with their jabs while looking for openings. Then, just as suddenly, both opponents began unloading lightning fast combinations on each other. Adamos immediately began to feel the effects of the Hamer boxer’s quick punches forcing him to back up and move around the ring to gain some sort of distance to his ever-oncoming opponent who used his incredible reflexes to stay out of range of his Swedish. the opponents strike, before stepping back into the line of fire to deliver precise blows to their own head. Just before the bell rang to end the round, Austin landed numerous lightning fast combinations on his opponent to show the judges who was in control.
In round two, both boxers came out again with their probing jabs before Austin landed two solid right hands to the chin. From there, the Hamer boxer kept bringing his right hand to perfection to land several telling blows to the head of his opponent. When Adamos managed to land punches of his own, the crowd suddenly burst into life and the sound was deafening around the room, but this did not deter the Rochdale youngster who repeatedly landed solid right hands to the chin, gradually changing his strategy. opponents who slowly began to fade from the competition.
At the start of the third and final round, the Swedish crowd began continuously chanting their boxer’s name, causing the Hamer boxer to increase the pace of the action even more as he repeatedly landed and told punches to the head to take the round and Box-Cup- the gold for both Hamer Boxing Club and the North West Region.
Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks, 19, got to compete in a semi-final on the same day when he was matched against Swedish boxer Tim Korola from Balstad Boxing Club. As the bell rang for the first round, “The Viking” took to the center of the ring to force his much taller opponent to the ropes before unleashing fast and furious strikes to both the body and head.
Korola began to use his much longer reach to probe with his jab before landing the occasional solid right hand, but this did not deter the Hamer boxer who just stepped back into the action to land even more telling punches of his own. From there, Korola realized that his jab was having little effect on the contest, so to the delight of his fans, he planted his feet firmly on the ring canvas as he began trading heavy blows with his Hamer opponent. The change of style suited ‘The Viking’ who delivered his own shattering punches in his determination to reach the final. This continued throughout the round as both boxers landed punches at each other which immediately raised the decibels in the room and as the round drew to a close “The Viking” began landing quick, accurate punches on his opponent to take the round.
At the sound of the second bell, Aeron immediately stormed out of the red corner to unleash a double punch to the face before stepping forward to land numerous hooks to both the body and head of his Swedish opponent. Korola tried hard to keep up, but Aeron’s fitness slowly began to take its toll as he kept pushing forward with effective strikes to both the body and head.
The Hamer boxer came out for the third and final round and immediately forced his opponent onto the back foot as he landed two crushing overhand rights to the head. Korola then landed two solid right hands of his own to the chin of his aggressive opponent, immediately forcing Aeron to step back into the action to unleash several crunching blows of his own to both the head and body as Korola lay on the ropes. It was a ferocious display of boxing that immediately brought the sound decibels back up to raise the roof off the building as both boxers made their way to the center of the ring to unleash even more explosive and punishing blows on each other. But in the end, it was the Hamer boxer’s quick and accurate punches that won him the competition to reach the final.
On day two, Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks stepped into the ring in the finals of the Gripen Box-Cup to face another Swedish boxer named Joel Johnsenn from Ikkmer Boxing Club and when the bell rang to start the first round “The Viking” immediately. forcing Johnsenn up the ropes to land an aggressive right hook to the head of his opponent. Aeron stepped back in with one, two combos, before landing numerous hooks to both the body and head. From there, “The Viking” forced his opponent around the ring as he connected with punishing right hands to the chin.
The Hamer boxer continued his aggressive approach as he waited for Johnsenn to land his punches before moving out of range so that his Swedish opponent missed his target. Then he suddenly stormed back into the action with explosive punches of his own, constantly landing on Johnsenn’s head and body. Aeron wanted that gold medal badly, and it showed when he connected with an incredible right hand to the chin that wobbled his opponent’s leg. Johnsenn immediately grabbed his fearless combatant and when the referee told them to separate, Johnsenn landed a sneaky blow to the head, prompting an immediate warning from the referee. The ugly blow didn’t deter Aeron in the slightest as he stepped back into the action to unload numerous and hard right-handed punches to the chin that forced the referee to step in and administer Johnsenn a standing eight count just before the bell rang to end the round.
At the sound of the second bell, Johnsenn came out to land a pair of explosive left and right hooks to the head of his Hamer opponent. But it wasn’t long before ‘The Viking’ began to force the action again as he landed punch after punch on his opponent, who for a split second took it upon himself to wrestle as he grabbed Aeron on the canvas before receiving another warning from Judge. Just before the bell rang to end the round, Aeron landed two incredible right hands to the chin, which were immediately followed by the fire alarm going off, forcing the evacuation of the building.
Eventually, the officials awarded Aeron the victory, leaving Hamer and its boxers with two gold medals. In total, the North West team won eight gold medals and two silver medals, earning them the trophy for the tournament’s most outstanding team.